The chairman of the Airports Commission has rejected Gatwick's criticism of its report recommending expansion at Heathrow.

Article: Lin Zulian will head the new Communist Party Committee in Wukan and organise elections for a new village committee.
His predecessor is under investigation for alleged corruption.
Anger in Wukan over land seizures by officials resulted in an open revolt against local party leaders in December.
The villagers' key demands - including removing two local officials from their posts - were granted by officials amid considerable public backing for the villagers.
The move was seen as a rare compromise by the Chinese government.
Mr Lin on Sunday replaced the incumbent Wukan chief, a businessman who had headed the village for decades but who local people accused of land grabs.
"This is a decision that everyone in Wukan supports and it is an important move that will help resolve the land and village finance disputes," a villager with the surname of Zhang was quoted by news agency Agence France Presse as saying.
Protests began to simmer in Wukan, in Guangdong province, in September and escalated into deadlock after the death of a village negotiator in police custody.
Villagers said officials sold off their land to developers and failed to compensate them properly.
They also called for an investigation into the death of Xue Jinbo, who died on 11 December while in the hands of local police. Police say he died of a "sudden illness", but his family say he was beaten to death.
In December deputy provincial Communist Party secretary Zhu Mingguo met village representatives and reached an agreement to end the stand-off.
There are thousands of protests over land grabs in China each year, with the Wukan protest becoming a symbol of public outrage at perceived injustices.

Summary: The leader of protests against land grabs in a southern Chinese village has been appointed its new chief.
###
Article: That was the choice one shopper made recently at a Japanese convenience store.
The non-Japanese man was seen openly drinking from a bottle of lemon iced tea which he had taken from the shelf, resulting in an argument with store staff.
"What did I do that was wrong? It's written right there on the label," he apparently questioned angrily.
After an explanation by the cashier, it became evident that it was all lost in translation. Free Tea was the brand name, not an offer of a complimentary drink.
The formerly outraged man sheepishly replied: "The store should change its label."
The heated argument was witnessed by Twitter user Domoboku in Tokyo, real name Akiyama Kojiro, who shared his account with his followers.
He told BBC News he had tried to help translating for the foreigner and the staffer, but there was a "bad atmosphere".
His take on the episode generated more than 34,000 retweets and was liked by more than 18,500 users, with people sharing their own experiences of linguistic confusion.
The confusingly named tea is a product of Japanese beverage giant Pokka Sapporo.
The drink "encourages people to be free from a stress-filled society," read an official description on its site.
Mr Kojiro, noted the "irony" of it drink's name and health properties, because the beverage clearly did the opposite in this case.
"This tea ended up causing a stressful problem for both the traveller who came all the way to Japan and an honest shopkeeper," he mused.
The abundance of freebies in Japan, like free oolong tea at restaurants and pocket tissues distributed on the streets, could have added to the confusion, he said.
"Foreigners may misunderstand what a wonderful and free country Japan is!"
He also said that Japanese people too were often sometimes confused by language.
"There are many examples of odd Japanese translations," he said.
"Everyone make mistakes. And I want to emphasise that using foreign languages, we need to be generous and understand each other."

Summary: Would you help yourself to a beverage labelled Free Tea?
###
Article: Ms Brown, who founded the site in 2008 with Barry Diller, said she would focus on a conference business, in particular her annual Women in the World summit.
She will leave the site when her contract expires at the end of this year.
Her tenure at The Daily Beast was marked by the website's unsuccessful merger with Newsweek in 2010.
Ms Brown and her team struggled to turn around the storied print magazine, and advertising revenue continued to plunge as circulation lagged.
She defended her attempt to revive Newsweek, saying she was proud of "the battle we waged to save it from the overwhelming forces of media change".
Newsweek was sold to IBT Media in August after ceasing publication of its print edition.
Ms Brown's new venture, Tina Brown Live Media, will continue her successful yearly conference, Women in the World, launched in 2010. Luminaries such as Oprah Winfrey and Hillary Clinton have attended in the past.
"I was surprised - she is such an icon to the print medium," Horizon Media's Brad Adgate told the BBC.
"This just goes to show that the internet is a different animal certainly than magazines."
Ms Brown co-founded The Daily Beast in October 2008 with Mr Diller after a successful track record running print magazines in the US and the UK.
At age 25 she was editor-in-chief of UK society magazine Tatler. She then went on to be the first female editor of The New Yorker magazine, and edit Vanity Fair and the short-lived Talk magazine.
Named after the fictional newspaper in Evelyn Waugh's satirical novel Scoop, The Daily Beast aimed to prove that online news could be made profitable.
The site was backed by Mr Diller's IAC/InterActivCorp, which also owns properties such as the dating websites Match.com and OkCupid and other websites such Ask.com and Dictionary.com.
Although the Daily Beast has reported strong web traffic numbers - with an audience of between six million and 16 million monthly visitors - it has had difficulty generating meaningful ad revenue.
The November 2010 merger with Newsweek - which had...

Summary: Tina Brown, former editor of Vanity Fair, is leaving the online news magazine The Daily Beast.
###
Article: The Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust employed Mitie to provide cleaning and catering in October 2014.
The company failed to meet required standards 85 times in January, 51 times in February, 271 times in March and 196 in April. One incident in March and one in April were classed as "critical".
The trust said it was monitoring Mitie.
According to the contract between the firm and the trust, seen by the BBC, "service failures" accrue a certain number of points which can lead to financial penalties.
In March the trust deducted 49% of the firm's profit margins, and 51% in April because of failure to meet required standards. However, the exact amount of money has not been released.
Examples of service failures are if a ward is not cleaned to a satisfactory standard or if a cleaner fails to respond to a request to clean a spillage.
The firm was hired last year to replace services at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro, St Michael's in Hayle and West Cornwall Hospital in Penzance.
The trust said: "We are continuing our robust monitoring of the Mitie contract.
"Mitie has responded to concerns raised and we are working together to ensure the delivery of a safe, high quality service for our patients."

Summary: A firm hired to provide "hotel services" at a hospital has continued to fail to meet the required standards, figures obtained by the BBC have shown.
###
Article: The former Florida governor has given a speech emphasising trans-Atlantic partnership in Germany and calling for a hard line against Russian "aggression" during a stop in Poland. Tomorrow he heads to Estonia.
Serious presidential candidates seem obligated to make a trip abroad to prove their foreign policy mettle, but when it comes to such overseas adventures, boring is pretty close to a best-case outcome.
Some might recall the sunny day seven years ago, when then-Senator Barack Obama delivered an address in Berlin to an adoring crowd numbering in the hundreds of thousands. More often, however, candidates don't soar on foreign soil, they stumble.
Within the past year Governors Scott Walker, Chris Christie and Bobby Jindal have all wilted under the harsh spotlight of the world stage. And then there was Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's ill-fated 2012 trip to Europe, where he generated numerous negative headlines, including ruffling British feathers when he wondered if London was prepared to host that summer's Olympic Games.
It's the kind of stuff that gives campaign hands nightmares - particularly the small group of experts and academics who are tasked with educating and counselling presidential candidates on international affairs.
Eliot Cohen, a professor of strategic studies at Johns Hopkins University, advised Mr Romney on foreign policy in 2012. He says the campaign made the mistake of bringing only a "very tight personal staff" to Europe with the former Massachusetts governor.
"It's very hard not to stumble," he says. Aside from incumbent presidents running for re-election, candidates have little in the way of international affairs support staff. Campaign organisations are mostly composed of political operatives and domestic policy experts, and full-time foreign policy advisors tend to be far fewer in number and often with less experience.
Although campaigns bring in outside advisors - releasing lists of names with some fanfare - he says the amount of time they get on a candidate's schedule is...

Summary: Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush is wrapping up his trip through Europe, and it seems the worst thing being said about his visit (at least so far) is that he's been a bit boring.
###
Article: Gatwick claims Sir Howard Davies's decision not to back a second runway at the airport in West Sussex was flawed.
Sir Howard has written to the government insisting issues raised by Gatwick were carefully considered before the report was written.
The government is due to decide which airport should expand by Christmas.
The Airports Commission spent three years hearing submissions, including those from Gatwick and Heathrow, about how best to expand airport capacity in the South East.
Its report, on 1 July, said there should be a third runway at Heathrow.
Gatwick had argued strongly that it should be allowed to expand instead.
It has said the economic argument for expanding Heathrow is flawed and Sir Howard was using passenger numbers that were "10 years out".
Sir Howard forecasts Gatwick at 40 million passengers by 2024 but the airport says it will hit that number this year.
In a letter to Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin, Sir Howard says the Airports Commission believes strongly its work is robust.
"The majority of the points made by Gatwick Airport Ltd were also made to the commission in the course of its work and we considered them carefully before we reached our conclusions," he said.
Crispin Blunt MP for Reigate, who chairs a group of local MPs who oppose expansion at Gatwick hit out at the airport for continuing to campaign for expansion.
"Sir Howard Davies has demolished Gatwick's arguments, which amount to a feeble public relations effort to undermine the credibility of the Airports Commission's work and recommendations," he said.
Gatwick said it stood by its view that Sir Howard's report was flawed.
"If backed by government it will inevitably lead to 'Heathrow Groundhog Day' with nothing happening once again," said chief executive Stewart Wingate.

Summary:


A majority of Scottish councils want the right to buy for council and social housing tenants scrapped, a government report has said.

Article: Critics had claimed that well-documented problems over some of their candidates would continue to plague them.
It's early stages but so far in Wales at least it has followed that script.
Rows over the selection of candidates have continued to bubble away and the entire local branch committee in Brecon and Radnorshire was suspended by UKIP Wales.
And now the national organiser has stepped down just as we head into the campaign. The significance of the timing will be lost on no-one.
UKIP Wales leader Nathan Gill told me there's never a good time for this to happen and in politics you have to cope with the hand that you're dealt. He says that overall the party is light years ahead of where it was five years ago.
John Atkinson had been in the role during last year's successful campaign in the European elections, in which it failed by just 4,000 votes to beat Labour and come top in Wales.
Despite the problems, the party still has plenty to build on.
UKIP has opened shops in Holyhead, Penarth, Shotton, Merthyr and Llanelli. It says it has 22 constituency branches and is fielding candidates in every Welsh constituency.
However, it operates in a radically different way to the other more established parties.
Plaid Cymru, for example, has already launched its campaign and manifesto, while UKIP don't have a date for its manifesto launch which will be the party's one set-piece event in Wales.
And yet UKIP have been higher in the polls than Plaid.
In fact the lack of organisation has been a factor which has worked in its favour as its members portray themselves as the outsiders and natural home of the protest voter.
The question is whether that is going to work in the full glare of a general election campaign.

Summary: Many people have been wondering what kind of election campaign UKIP would be running.
###
Article: They are investigating tiny changes in the length of the collider's 27km-circumference ring, which occur on a daily and a seasonal basis.
The short cycle is explained by normal tidal forces.
But the winter-summer pattern which affects the huge underground facility is not so obvious.
Except researchers think they can now show that winter rain and snow is gravitationally pulling on the ring.
"My hypothesis is that in winter there's a lot more water in the ground, and even snow sitting on the ground. So, basically, this mass pulls on the ring. And when that extra mass melts away and evaporates away in summer - the ring stretches a bit," said Rolf Hut from Delft University of Technology, Netherlands.
If that's true, you could use the LHC to study precipitation and other aspects of hydrology - not just the secrets of the Universe.
"I can make a rain gauge out of anything," said Dr Hut.  He was speaking here at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly.
Changes in the size of the LHC's ring are known from the behaviour of the beam of particles whizzing around inside it at near-light-speed.
The length of the particles' orbit is fixed and controlled by the collider's operators such as to position the beam in the centre of the ring's vacuum chamber.
An alteration in the circumference will force the particles to move inwards or outwards relative to this centre point.
This movement can be measured with micrometre accuracy and is corrected. The adjustments made by the operators therefore represent a very precise measure of the change in the circumference of the LHC.
This issue was first noticed in the LEP accelerator, which occupied the mighty tunnel under the Franco-Swiss border before the LHC.
The daily changes were quickly attributed to the flexure of the surrounding rock by the Moon's tides, but the longer seasonal cycle could have a number of explanations.
One of these is the change in temperature between summer and winter months: the rock could simply be flexing as it warms and cools. Except, temperatures...

Summary: The LHC is not just the world's most powerful particle accelerator, it could also be its biggest rain meter, scientists say.
###
Article: The men are accused of a catalogue of serious sex offences against seven females aged between 13 and 23 at the time of the alleged abuse, police said.
They were held under Operation Doublet, investigating child sexual exploitation of teen girls by older men in Rochdale.
The offences are alleged to have happened between 2005 and 2013.
They include rape, conspiracy to rape, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, sexual activity with a child and sexual assault.
A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said the investigation was not connected to an ongoing inquiry into historical abuse at Knowl View School.
Assistant Chief Constable Ian Wiggett said: "This investigation is one of a number of cases which comes under the umbrella of Operation Doublet, which is the continued investigation into child sexual exploitation (CSE) that arose following the 2011 investigation into CSE in Rochdale.
"The operation is an investigation into CSE in Rochdale and across other areas of Greater Manchester.
"So far, 65 people have been arrested as part of Operation Doublet and the investigation continues.
"This is an extremely complex and challenging investigation which started in May 2012. The investigation will continue over the coming months and further arrests are anticipated."
The charges have been welcomed by Rochdale's Labour MP Simon Danczuk, who has called for more action to expose historical sex abuse crimes.
Mr Danczuk said: "There have been some who have urged me not to campaign on grooming, but I believe that this news shows what can be achieved by keeping up pressure and pushing for change."
The men have been charged as follows:
The men have been bailed to appear at either Bury or Tameside Magistrates' Court later this week.

Summary: Ten men have been charged by police investigating child sexual exploitation in Rochdale, Greater Manchester.
###
Article: The US Embassy in the UK has not been singing from the same hymn sheet as the White House in recent days as it tries to soften the blow of Mr Trump's rebuke of how Khan has handled the London Bridge attacks.
While Mr Trump branded Khan's appeal for calm a "pathetic excuse" on social media, America's top diplomat to the Court of St James's - ChargÃ© d'affaires ad interim and former Deputy Chief of Mission Lewis Lukens - praised the mayor's leadership.
The lack of co-ordination between the Trump administration and the US Foreign Service transpired without an ambassador spearheading America's diplomatic efforts in the country.
So how is the lack of a top US diplomat playing out in London?
The ambassador traditionally advocates for American interests in the UK, deciphers British politics and policies for the federal government and offers consular services to citizens, according to former US Ambassador to the Czech Republic, John Shattuck.
In times of crisis, however, the ambassador becomes a fulcrum between the two countries as they take part in intelligence sharing meetings and strategic planning sessions around cross-national issues like security.
"An ambassador, fully accredited by their country, may be able to enter meetings at a higher level than lower, professional staff," says Mr Shattuck, now a professor at Tufts University.
Without a proper ambassador in place, the flow of information could be impaired, he says, "but that's not a foregone conclusion. A second-in-command may well be given access."
After events like the London Bridge attack, an ambassador would usually express US sympathy and solidarity and ensure affected Americans were cared for - as ChargÃ© d'affaires Lukens did, says W Robert Pearson, former US Ambassador to Turkey.
What was potentially missing at the weekend was an ambassador who was able to immediately reach high-ranking officials at the White House, the National Security Council or the Department of State to manage communications and set a tone moving forward.
"With such work in the...

Summary: The war of words between US President Donald Trump and London Mayor Sadiq Khan following Saturday's terror attack in the UK has exposed chinks in the so-called "special relationship".
###
Article: The low-cost credit-card sized computer is widely used by schools and the maker community for programming devices.
Google has asked makers to complete a survey about what smart tools would be "most helpful".
And it suggests tools to aid face and emotion recognition, speech-to-text translation, natural language processing and sentiment analysis.
Google has previously developed a range of tools for machine learning, internet of things devices, wearables, robotics and home automation.
The Raspberry Pi Foundation said the new tools could enable makers "to build even more powerful projects".
"Google is going to arrive in style in 2017. The tech titan has exciting plans for the maker community," said the foundation in its blog.
A Google spokeswoman told the BBC:  "We don't have any specifics to announce right now, but we're excited to keep sharing more open source machine learning tools with the community - stay tuned for more this year."
Eben Upton, founder of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, told the BBC: "It's fantastic to see Google getting closer to the maker community.
"I'm particularly excited about the prospect of connecting Raspberry Pi to some of the machine learning work coming out of Google DeepMind in London, allowing us to build smart devices that interact in the real world."
In 2015, the Raspberry Pi became the most popular British computer ever made.
More than 10 million have now been sold.
The Pi, which is manufactured in Wales, has been adopted by school children, programmers and inventors around the world.
It is also increasingly being used by the business community.

Summary: Google is planning to bring artificial intelligence and machine learning tools to the Raspberry Pi.
###
Article: Many tenants and social landlords also want to see an end to the policy, according to a consultation.
The Scottish government has already ended right to buy for new tenants, amid concern over a shortage of rented affordable homes.
Right to buy has also been suspended by a number of local authorities.
Ministers are currently considering proposals to protect and increase the supply of affordable housing.
The government's consultation on the issue got 169 responses in total from registered social landlords, tenant and resident groups, councils, charities and others.
Of the 161 respondents which answered the question on ending right to buy altogether, 83% said the policy - introduced in the early 80s - should go.
In all, 92% of social landlords, 81% of councils and 80% of tenant and resident groups which responses said right to buy should be scrapped.
The policy was introduced by the Thatcher government to make owning a home more affordable and, since its introduction, more than 500,000 homes have been sold in Scotland.
But in recent years councils have been forced to suspend the policy, as their stock of social housing to rent has dwindled.
The Scottish government's 2010 Housing Act brought in several changes, including ending right to buy for new council and social housing tenants, alongside a three-year £1.5bn house-building plan.
Ministers said stopping all new tenants from buying their homes could see up to 18,000 properties retained over 10 years.
The Scottish government said it would respond to the consultation in due course.

Summary:

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Every pupil in England will be tested on their times tables before leaving primary school, under government plans.

Article: The spacecraft - model numbers five and six - went up on a Soyuz rocket from French Guiana.
Galileo is now finally moving towards full deployment after years of delay.
The European Space Agency, which is building the system on behalf of the EU, expects to have a 26-satellite constellation in orbit by 2017.
To that end, it has just ordered three big Ariane-5 rockets at a cost of half a billion euros.
Europe's premier launch vehicle can loft four spacecraft at a time, and this should allow for six to eight satellites to be put in space every 12 months from now on.
"Every spacecraft is, after in-orbit commissioning, put into operation, and is broadcasting a navigation signal that is a valid signal for users with a combined Galileo/GPS receiver; and there are already receivers on the market that have this capability. So, you have to see the service as being increased one by one," explained Esa Galileo project manager, Javier Benedicto.
Friday's Soyuz lift-off occurred on schedule at precisely at 09:27:11 local time (13:27 BST; 14:27 CEST).
The "instant launch window" was required to get the satellites into just the right part of the sky demanded by the network's multi-plane configuration.
The latest platforms, dubbed "Doresa" and "Milena" in a public competition, are somewhat different to their four predecessors, which were used to validate the Galileo technology in orbit.
Formally described as the first Full Operational Capability (FOC) satellites, they have been produced by a new manufacturing consortium, comprising the German outfit OHB System and the UK firm SSTL.
This pair have been contracted to supply the next 20 spacecraft as well.
SSTL's role is to integrate all the Galileo system components inside a satellite.
"It's been a high-volume operation," said SSTL director John Paffett, "and we're now turning out a payload every six weeks.  By the middle of next year, all our payloads will have shipped to OHB, and it won't be long after that that all the finished satellites will have been handed over to...

Summary: Europe has launched the next two satellites in the Galileo network - its version of the American Global Positioning System (GPS).
###
Article: The letter, from all political group leaders at East Sussex County Council (ESCC), said the county faced cuts that would significantly reduce the quality of life for many people.
It comes as the council considers raising council tax by 3.99%, which includes the 2% social care precept.
The government said ESCC's spending power was forecast to grow by 1%.
Conservative-run ESCC said it had saved more than £78m since 2010 but faced a further £70m to £90m savings by April 2019, including £40m from its adult social care budget.
The letter said the government's approach to local government did not reflect the "varying needs" of different areas and East Sussex's ageing population made it particularly vulnerable to cuts.
And it said there would be significant savings in adult social care, withdrawal of early help and support to young people, significant reductions in library services, and reductions in the integrated transport offer.
Council leader Keith Glazier said savings being made would place a heavy burden on some residents.
A spokesman for the Department of Communities and Local Government said: "This government is providing a long-term funding settlement for the first time allowing local authorities to plan with certainty.
"Councils will have almost £200bn to spend on local services, including a £3.5 billion social care package, over the lifetime of this parliament.
"East Sussex County Council core spending power is forecast to increase by 1% and the county will still have over £1.4bn to spend between now and 2020."

Summary: Politicians in East Sussex have raised "concerns" in a letter to the Prime Minister over government funding cuts.
###
Article: The strike has been organised by Cardiff Hackney Carriage Association due to "frustration" about the way complaints against drivers are dealt with.
It will take place from midnight to 02:00 BST on Saturday and Sunday and the following weekend.
Cardiff council said it advised "all drivers to understand and abide by their licensing conditions".
It follows a council clampdown on taxi drivers over reports they had been refusing short-distance fares.
The council had urged people to take note of the badge number or vehicle registration of drivers who refused fares.
But Mathab Khan, chairman of the association, claimed the council's guidance had "instigated a wave of insult and abuse" against drivers.
"It has been very damaging to the taxi trade," he said.
"We are very upset and can't afford to strike but this is the only way we can voice our anger."
He also raised concerns about the way drivers' licences have been suspended.
"If drivers are committing an offence then they should be prosecuted in the courts and not by the council licensing committee," he said.
A council spokesman said the licensing authority "hasn't been informed by organisers if the strike is going ahead" and advised "interested parties" to contact Mr Khan.
The council had "made it very clear about the grounds for a hackney carriage driver to refuse a fare" and took action to ensure "individual drivers are a fit and proper person to hold a licence", the spokesman said.
"The council maintains that rather than threatening strike action, we would advise all drivers to understand and abide by their licensing conditions, or face enforcement action for breaching the law," he added.

Summary: Taxi drivers in Cardiff are set to go on strike this weekend.
###
Article: Maxwell Marion Morton, 16, was arrested for killing Ryan Mangan in his home near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The suspect used Snapchat - an app that auto-deletes content after a few seconds - to send an image to a friend.
The friend took a screenshot and his mother contacted police. Prosecutors said the Snapchat was "key evidence".
"[Police] received a copy of the photo which depicted the victim sitting in the chair with a gunshot wound to the face," a police affidavit states, according to The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
"It also depicts a black male taking the 'selfie,' with his face facing the camera and the victim behind the actor. The photo had the name 'Maxwell' across the top."
The boy also received text messages from the suspect saying: "Told you I cleaned up the shells" and "Ryan was not the last one."
Snapchat has become wildly popular among US teenagers and youth, with many attracted by the fact content shared via the app disappears so quickly.
But there are ways to make Snapchat messages permanent - including taking screen captures and using third-party services.
Users are alerted when someone takes a screen capture of a message.
Maxwell Marion Morton confessed to killing Mr Mangan after police found a 9mm handgun hidden in his home, according to The Tribune-Review.
He will be charged and face trial as an adult, police said.

Summary: A US teenager has been charged with the murder of a classmate after police said he posted a Snapchat photo of himself with the victim's body.
###
Article: Judges are now required to give special information to jurors in some trials, including that many victims of rape or sexual assault "freeze" rather than fight back.
The move is designed to challenge any pre-conceived notions jurors may have about how a person should react when they are a victim of a sexual offence.
Rape Crisis Scotland welcomed the move.
Sandy Brindley, co-ordinator for the organisation, said: "Survivors often tell us that during a rape they froze and were unable to fight back or scream.
"This is a completely natural and common reaction, but not always one that members of the public will necessarily be aware of.
"We welcome the introduction of jury directions in rape cases as a significant step forward.
"Providing jury members with factual information on different reactions to rape should help to ensure that verdicts in sexual offence cases are based on the evidence presented rather than being influenced by assumptions about how rape victims should react."
Under the new laws, judges will give special information to juries in certain sexual offence trials, including where there is a delay in the victim reporting the crime, where there is no evidence of physical resistance by the victim and where the perpetrator has not used physical force.
The Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm (Scotland) Act 2016 also sees the introduction of a new statutory aggravation which means courts will be required to take into account whether or not an offence involved abuse of a partner or ex-partner.
The act further introduces an extension of the law concerning certain sexual offences committed against children, to allow for prosecution in Scottish courts of offences committed elsewhere in the UK.
The change is aimed at reducing the potential trauma for victims who might otherwise face more than one trial.
Powers to protect victims from further harassment are also being extended by allowing a criminal non-harassment order to be imposed in a wider range of circumstances.
Justice Secretary Michael Matheson said:...

Summary: New laws have come into force aimed at improving the way sexual offences are dealt with in courts in Scotland.
###
Article: Pupils aged 11 will be expected to know their tables up to 12x12, and will be tested using an "on-screen check".
The checks will be piloted to about 3,000 pupils in 80 primary schools this summer, before being rolled out across the country in 2017.
Education Secretary Nicky Morgan said maths was a non-negotiable aspect of a good education.
The "on-screen check" examination will involve children completing multiplication challenges against the clock, which will be scored instantly.
The Department for Education says it is the first use of on-screen technology in National Curriculum tests.
Ms Morgan has also said teachers will be judged by the results of the tests: "Since 2010, we've seen record numbers of 11 year olds start secondary school with a good grasp of the three Rs. But some continue to struggle.
"That is why, as part of our commitment to extend opportunity and deliver educational excellence everywhere we are introducing a new check to ensure that all pupils know their times tables by age 11.
"They will help teachers recognise those pupils at risk of falling behind and allow us to target those areas where children aren't being given a fair shot to succeed."
In 2015, 80% of Year 6 pupils achieved Level 4 in maths, reading and writing, up from 78% last year.
But Labour says standards are being threatened by a shortage of teachers, and in the past some teaching unions have warned additional tests can place unwelcome pressure on teachers and pupils.

Summary:


With just 20 days to go until Americans go to the polls, millennials suggest they'd rather die than vote for the two main parties, while Canadians try to keep their neighbours' spirits up.

Article: The 35-year-old is moving to French side Toulon after the tournament having being released early from his dual Munster and Ireland contract.
Iain Henderson, who replaced O'Connell, is likely to start Sunday's quarter-final game with Argentina in Cardiff.
Number eight Jamie Heaslip will lead the team in O'Connell's absence.
"Paul O'Connell suffered a significant hamstring injury and will undergo surgery this week," said an Irish Rugby statement.
"Paul will not play again at Rugby World Cup 2015 and his time out of the game will depend on the outcome of the surgery."
The end of O'Connell's involvement in the campaign follows Peter O'Mahony  while fly-half Johnny Sexton is a doubt for the quarter-final because of a groin injury.
Flanker Sean O'Brien may also be missing for the match against the Pumas after he was cited for an apparent punch on France second row Pascal Pape.
Leinster's Mike McCarthy has been called into the Ireland squad as O'Connell's replacement.
Media playback is not supported on this device
O'Connell began his international career with a try-scoring debut against Wales in 2002 and has been a key member of the Ireland side since.
After playing a leadership role alongside captain Brian O'Driscoll in Ireland's Six Nations Grand Slam in 2009, O'Connell captained the British and Irish Lions in their 2-1 Test series defeat by South Africa later that year.
England 2015 was O'Connell's fourth World Cup campaign with Ireland. He has never been beyond the quarter-finals in the tournament.
He finishes his international career with 108 Ireland caps and another seven for the British and Irish Lions.
Former Ireland team-mate Peter Stringer paid tribute to O'Connell, describing him as an "inspirational leader".
"What a captain he has been. He is the first second row I have played with who has been the complete player," he told BBC Radio 5 live.
"I have never met anybody like him. He demands the highest of standards from everyone within an organisation to make sure the team succeeds.
"It is devastating for...

Summary: Paul O'Connell's international career is over after the Ireland captain tore his hamstring during Sunday's World Cup victory over France.
###
Article: The Yadav family, reported to have 20 members and counting in politics, dominates the Samajwadi Party (SP) at all levels.
Its founder and patriarch, Mulayam Singh Yadav, is the national president of the party.  His elder son Akhilesh Yadav is the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.
Mulayam Singh Yadav's brother Shivpal Yadav is a minister in the state government. All SP members of the lower house of the Indian parliament are from the Yadav family. Other members occupy local and regional offices.
Even though political families now dominate, or are found burrowed within most major political parties in India, no other political family has the sheer numbers and sprawl across political offices at all levels of Indian politics that the Yadav family does.
Is India's politics becoming less dynastic?
But last month, old tensions among the Yadavs broke out into open conflict.
Akhilesh Yadav moved against his uncle Shivpal by sacking ministers and bureaucrats believed to be loyal to him.
Mulayam Singh Yadav backed his brother, removing his son from the position of state president of the Samajwadi Party and appointing Shivpal Yadav to the position instead.
For the past month, son and uncle and their respective factions have been fighting it out, with the patriarch playing mediator.
The drama is still unfolding. As of today, several of Akhilesh Yadav's loyalists, including family members Ram Gopal Yadav and Udaiveer Yadav, have been expelled from the party, while Shivpal Yadav and his loyalists have been sacked from the cabinet.
It is also not clear who the party's chief ministerial candidate is: although the SP had on 17 October named Akhilesh Yadav as its candidate for chief minister, the Shivpal Yadav faction is now proposing Mulayam Singh Yadav's name for the position.
In the meantime, the SP's election campaign has come to a standstill.
The Yadavs are only one of several families in charge of India's regional governments.
According to data I collected after India's most recent round of regional elections this year, the...

Summary: As India's largest state - Uttar Pradesh - prepares to go to the polls early next year, its largest political dynasty - the Yadavs, whose Samajwadi Party heads the state government - is in disarray.
###
Article: The NK603 variety has been planted in seven states. The seed supplier, US firm Pioneer Hi-Bred, called the level of contamination "minute".
It is not clear how the mistake occurred, but it could cost farmers millions of euros, as crops will now have to be destroyed.
The EU is currently reviewing its tight rules on the cultivation of GM crops.
Pioneer Hi-Bred, based in Buxtehude near Hamburg, says NK603 has been planted on "just under 2,000 hectares (4,940 acres)" of land. The environmental group Greenpeace put the area as high as 3,000 hectares.
Bavaria, Baden-Wuerttemberg and Lower Saxony are among the states where it has been sown.
Supporters of GM crops argue that they deliver higher yields and resistance to pests, requiring less fertiliser and pesticides.
Opponents say more scientific data is needed, arguing that their long-term genetic impact on humans and wildlife could be harmful.
They also say GM crops can enter the food chain inadvertently if they are naturally cross-pollinated with non-GM varieties.
Greenpeace says that officials knew about the contamination in early March, but that because of bureaucratic delays farmers are only now being warned.
"This is the biggest GM crop scandal in Germany to date," said a Greenpeace agriculture expert, Alexander Hissting.
In the affected fields, up to 0.1% of the crop is contaminated with NK603 - equivalent to 100 contaminated plants per hectare, Greenpeace says.
Pioneer Hi-Bred disputes that figure. Company spokesman Mike Hall told the BBC that the level of NK603 detected in the "conventional seed" was 0.03%.
"It's highly unlikely that it's a GM trace. Anything below 0.1% could be a false positive, impossible to quantify scientifically," he said.
"In the past when they found trace amounts we removed the seed from the market. In this case they told us after it had been planted."
Stefanie Becker, spokeswoman for Lower Saxony's Environment Ministry, said that "fields will have to be ploughed up before the maize blooms - it is still possible to halt the...

Summary: A genetically modified (GM) variety of maize banned in the EU has been sown accidentally across Germany.
###
Article: Many farmers and some people living in rural communities backed the pilot cull in north Pembrokeshire, saying action was needed to stop diseased cattle being killed.
But others questioned the cull's effectiveness, saying it had not yet been scientifically proven that badgers are implicated in the transmission of TB within cattle.
After the the appeal court halted the cull, its supporters and opponents gave their reactions:
The campaign group said the proposed cull was "hugely unpopular in north Pembrokeshire", had divided communities and had affected tourism.
"The science does not support culling as TB actually increases in badgers as their social structure is disrupted. The costs of a badger cull far outweigh any small benefits," it said.
"With injectable badger vaccine available and licensed this is now a very attractive and more acceptable alternative for reducing TB in Badgers.
"We know vaccination works and as infected badgers die out the Welsh Assembly Government's own models suggest vaccination can deliver similar results to culling, without the disadvantages and at lower cost."
Sarah Kessell, chief executive of the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales, said: "Research has repeatedly shown that the costs [of the cull] far outweigh the benefits and that culling badgers could make the situation worse.
"Responses we have received show that the cull is also deeply unpopular amongst the general public and some landowners.
"It is also an unjustifiable cost in these times of financial austerity."
David Williams, Chairman of the Badger Trust, said: "Although some farmers may see this judgement as a setback, the massive body of rigorously peer-reviewed literature shows that killing badgers can play no meaningful part in the eradication of bovine TB and that robust cattle measures are sufficient."
"Trials of a new badger vaccine are already under way in England and the minister should look at this method of control as a matter of urgency," he said.
"I will be urging her (Rural Affairs Minister Elin Jones) to...

Summary: Feelings have been high and opinions have been divided about the Welsh Assembly Government's plans to cull around 1,500 badgers in south-west Wales.
###
Article: Two months after HM Customs and Revenue (HMRC) terminated its contract with the firm, the mother has described how she has been forced into debt as a result.
Meanwhile a report has said that 35,000 people had payments wrongly stopped.
The National Audit Office (NAO) also said that, so far, nearly £87,000 has been handed out in compensation.
Marie Crowley told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme that she had had to take out payday loans to cover her debts, after HMRC blocked her child tax credits of £150 a week back in September 2016.
However, when the tax authorities agreed to repay it, they said she could not have a lump sum. Instead the payments would be spread over the rest of the tax year.
Because her weekly income then went up, she was unable to claim housing benefit.
"The response I got, really, was: 'well, you have got your money back, so don't complain'," she said.
As a result, she is having difficulty repaying payday loans.
"I am stressing about paying debts, and having to ring debt companies as they are chasing me about direct debits."
In just over two years, 108,000 people had their tax credits changed or stopped by Concentrix, according to the NAO report.
But almost a third of those decisions had subsequently been overturned, it said.
By mid-December 2016, "HMRC had paid a total of £86,815 in compensation for complaints relating to cases handled by Concentrix" the report added.
That included almost £68,000 for worry and distress.
The BBC has previously reported the case of Nicola McKenzie, a teenage mother who had her child tax credits stopped by the company after she was wrongly accused of being married to a 74-year-old man.
Concentrix was hired to try to save more than £1bn in incorrect or fraudulent tax credit payments, but saved less than a fifth of that target.
HMRC, the UK's tax agency, terminated the contract in November.
Senior figures from HMRC and Concentrix will be called before MPs later this month to explain the failures.
A Concentrix spokesman said: "This was a hugely complex...

Summary: A benefit claimant has told the BBC she is still suffering as a result of having her payments wrongly blocked by the US contractor Concentrix.
###
Article: The third and final debate is upon us but Donald Trump has shown little interest in ditching the campaign trail for prep sessions.
Speaking at a rally in Colorado on Tuesday, he told supporters he was "gonna take back the White House" and "deliver real, real change". And, for a real, real change he even mentioned some policy, saying he wanted to end government corruption and "drain the swamp in Washington DC". We've spoken to some transparency advocates about his plan and you can see what they think here.
Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, has disappeared from the public eye to prepare. Once again, her ability to focus will be tested by Mr Trump, who is reported to have invited two interesting guests to the show: President Barack Obama's Kenyan-born, Trump-supporting, half-brother Malik; and Pat Smith, the mother of a US officer who was killed in the Benghazi attack in September 2012.
Polling in recent days has suggested that voters are finding the increasingly fractious campaign a bit of a turnoff, meaning we could see a decline in turnout come 8 November. One group that is particularly exasperated with the candidates appears to be younger voters, with one survey finding that many of them would rather see a giant meteor destroy Earth than vote for Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump.
"Obviously we don't think that they're serious," Joshua Dyck, co-director of UMass Lowell's Center for Public Opinion, which conducted the survey, told Reuters. But it "tells you something about the political disaffection that is being shown by American youth," he added.
Perhaps sensing this moment of misery, some cheery folk across the border in Canada have launched a campaign to #TellAmericaItsGreat. Their uplifting video has had nearly a million views in the last couple of days, winning praise from Star Trek star George Takei, who tweeted: "O, Canada! My ears are moist seeing these. Thank you. This election has been exhausting us all." It sure has.
Bruce Springsteen tells the BBC that he thinks Donald Trump is a conman
15
The number of...

Summary:


Sports Direct has warned that the extreme swings in the pound overnight will hit its profits.

Article: The Tories said "failings" over local policing and IT systems had not been addressed since the force was created.
And they urged the Scottish government to heed the warnings it had been given by communities and police officers.
The government recently set seven new priority areas for the force, including localism, inclusion and adaptability.
As part of the consultation phase for the new priority framework, Edinburgh City Council submitted feedback saying it was "difficult" for officers to maintain relationships at a local level due to police being moved around different areas within the force.
The Scottish Police Federation (SPF) also listed a range of concerns which included Scottish government funding of the force for tools such as an effective IT system.
Conservative justice spokesman Douglas Ross said these were "very severe warnings that cover a range of areas where Police Scotland is struggling".
He added: "This falls completely at the SNP's door, which created the single force and has overseen its first few years.
"Ministers said local policing wouldn't be hampered, but here we have Scotland's capital city saying otherwise.
"This message is replicated across the country and I hear concerns about local policy everywhere I go."
He added: "Communities and police officers alike are highlighting failings which we were assured by the SNP would not occur.
"The Scottish government has to take heed of this, and make sure the police can deal not only with current challenges, but future ones too."
A Scottish government spokeswoman said the new Strategic Police Priorities would strengthen the community focus of policing, ensuring that national priorities take account of the needs of local communities.
She added: "In terms of funding, the Scottish government is committed to protecting the police revenue budget in real terms for the entirety of this parliament, delivering an additional Â£100m of investment over the next five years, in addition to Â£55m of reform funding in 2016-17.
"It is for the Scottish Police...

Summary: Concerns about the performance of Police Scotland "fall completely at the SNP's door", the Scottish Conservatives have claimed.
###
Article: In a video to sports fans, the FAA warns the stadium is a "no-drone zone".
The restrictions cover anywhere within 32 miles of the Super Bowl stadium in Santa Clara, California, between 14:00 and 23:59 PST on 7 February.
FAA regulations also advise that "deadly force" may be used if a drone is perceived as a security threat.
The Super Bowl is the climax of the football season, and a crowd of 70,000 is expected for this year's game.
"Bring your lucky jersey, bring your facepaint, bring your team spirit," the video announces, "but leave your drone at home."
No-drone zones have become commonplace in the United States at sports and entertainment events at which large crowds gather.
Furthermore, permanent restrictions are in place over sensitive buildings - such as airports and the White House.
FAA regulations state: "The United States government may use deadly force against the airborne aircraft, if it is determined that the aircraft poses an imminent security threat."

Summary: Drones have been banned from flying within 32 miles of American Football's Super Bowl, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has said.
###
Article: The West Yorkshire Combined Authority has agreed a total business flood recovery fund of £5m.
It said grants could include cash to repair or buy new equipment, pay to restore flood-hit premises or help with relocation costs.
The fund will be managed by the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership.
The money will come from the area's regional growth fund allocation from the government for 2016/17.
The city region area covers the 10 local authority areas of Barnsley, Bradford, Calderdale, Craven, Harrogate, Kirklees, Leeds, Selby, Wakefield and York.
It is believed around 2,000 businesses were damaged by the flooding in December.
Peter Box, chair of the combined authority, said: "I know how devastating it has been for many small and medium businesses and the knock-on effect for those companies that are suppliers or customers of those flood-hit firms."
Mr Box said he accepted the money would only "scratch the surface" and said the combined authority would continue to press for continuing support for flood prevention measures from the government.
He said the grants, which would range from £5,000 to £100,000, would be in addition to financial support already offered for flood clean-up costs by local authorities.

Summary: Grants of up to £100,000 are to be made available to support business in West Yorkshire hit by flooding over Christmas.
###
Article: Overall, the US is largely seen in a positive light, with a global median of 69% of people saying they viewed the US favourably. That's up from 65% in 2013 and 2014, says Pew.
But when it comes to the issue of post-9/11 interrogation techniques - which many consider to be torture - the US has received a worldwide rebuke.
Chinese and US officials, at the helm of the world's biggest economies, are meeting in Washington for annual talks.
While the recent global downturn stoked fears that the US was losing ground to China economically, there has actually been a rise in the number of people who think the US is still on top.
Of the 40 countries polled, a majority in 30 of them view the US as the world's biggest economic power. India has seen the biggest jump in the number of people who think the US is on top.
However, it's important to note that majorities in 27 countries believe that China will eventually replace the US as the world's top superpower.
The European Union is the most convinced of China's inevitable supremacy.
When it comes to the US-led fight against Islamic State, the US enjoys broad support.
A median of 62% of people around the world say that they support US military actions against the Islamic State group. That figure is compared to the 24% of people who oppose US-led efforts against the group in Iraq and Syria.
While the Iraq war that raged a decade ago was largely unpopular, majorities in America's key European allies are supportive of the campaign.
A near-majority of people in important Middle Eastern allies are supportive as well.
Back home, 80% of Americans - including 88% of Republicans and 80% of Democrats - view the campaign favourably. Across the northern border, the fight enjoys the support of about two-thirds of the Canadian public.
What's not popular? The interrogation techniques employed by the US following the 9/11 attacks.
A median of 50% of people disapproved of the US government's interrogation techniques that it used on suspected terrorists - techniques that many described as...

Summary: A global survey of 40 countries by the Pew Research Center finds that large numbers of people have a favourable opinion of the United States, its economy and the US-led fight against the Islamic State.
###
Article: On Monday its shares dived 30% after a note from analysts at Investec said its equity value could be "eliminated".
Investec's Laura Lambie told the BBC Glencore faced "severe problems" if it did not cut its debt and commodity prices do not recover.
But a Glencore spokesperson said the firm had no solvency issues.
"Glencore has taken proactive steps to position our company to withstand current commodity market conditions, " the spokesperson added.
"Our business remains operationally and financially robust.
"We have positive cash flow, good liquidity and absolutely no solvency issues."
Glencore has been hit by a slowdown in the wider commodities markets, with copper, aluminium and nickel all down more than 25% compared with a year ago.
In recent weeks chief executive Ivan Glasenberg has tried to reduce the company's debt by selling shares and assets, as well as scrapping a series of dividends.
Glencore hopes to generate up to $12bn (Â£7.9bn) from the sale of its grains business to reduce its debt burden.
But it has done little to allay fears over Glencore's Â£20bn debt pile which have seen its shares dive in the past month and the cost of insuring that debt  soar.
Speaking to the BBC, Investec's Laura Lambie said: "Miners grew hugely to meet the demand from China and they borrowed heavily to find it and the cost of servicing that debt and the schedule of repayments are really putting companies such as Glencore under the spotlight.
"The risk is if commodities don't recover then companies like Glencore will be in trouble trying to repay its debt."
Investec has also questioned how much Glencore could raise from selling its agriculture division, as "valuing such a volatile business is likely to be tough".
Glencore's stock has fallen by more than 85% since the company went public in 2011 at a price of Â£5.30 a share.
On Tuesday its shares rallied after the firm's statement, closing up nearly 17% at 80.24p, but it is still a long way off its flotation price.
Nigel Wilson, the chief executive for Legal and General,...

Summary: Mining firm Glencore has said it is "operationally and financially robust" after questions were raised about its financial future.
###
Article: In a statement, the company said the move will hit next year's profit by about £15m.
In addition, if the pound averages $1.20 over the financial year, it may lose another £20m.
Overnight on Friday the pound temporarily plunged by 6%, in a flash crash that is thought to have been triggered by automated trading.
Shares in Sports Direct closed down 9% on Friday.
The company had expected to report underlying profit of £300m based on the pound trading at $1.30 against the dollar.
However, the retailer said that "extreme movements overnight" would result "in a negative impact of approximately £15m" on its results for the current financial year.
The swings overnight hit the company's hedging arrangements, which are designed to protect a business against volatile currency prices.
It also sustained a large loss in its last financial year because of currency movements.
In that case, because of a fall in the value of the pound against the euro, it took a £65m hit.
As a result, Sports Direct reported underlying earnings of £381.4m for the year to 24 April against expectations of £420m, resulting in staff missing out on a bonus.
It has been a tumultuous year for Sports Direct which has been criticised for working conditions at its Shirebrook distribution centre. Most recently, its chief executive Dave Forsey stepped down and was replaced by Mike Ashley, the founder and majority shareholder of the retail chain.
The company has an acting finance director after its former financial chief Bob Mellors stepped down in December 2013 after a decade with the business.
Matt Pearson was appointed as interim chief financial officer on 2 June 2015.

Summary:


Isle of Wight Council begins a High Court appeal after the case against a father who took his child on holiday during term-time was thrown out by magistrates.

Article: Specialisterne Northern Ireland plans to link people with high functioning autism with employers.
More than 50 digital content and film production companies will be attending.
Young people and adults on the autistic spectrum from across Northern Ireland and university staff are to take part.
The audience at the Skainos Centre in east Belfast will gain insight into the abilities of people with autism to organise and make systems.
Specialisterne has traditionally helped people with autism get jobs in IT and software development.
The initiative is the final and flagship event of Creativity Month in Northern Ireland.
Autism and Asperger syndrome are part of a range of conditions known as autistic spectrum disorders (ASD). They affect the way the brain processes information.
Since its launch in April 2014, Specialisterne NI has identified 120 people who are on the autistic spectrum and who have the skills and talent for IT and creative roles.

Summary: An initiative aimed at matching the specific skills of people with autism with the creative industries is to be launched later.
###
Article: The education minister has written to councils advising them head teachers should instead exercise discretion.
Pupils are allowed to have up to 10 days away, but schools are judged on absenteeism rates.
Campaign group Parents Want a Say said the advice was a "terrific result".
Nearly 2,000 people signed a petition after hundreds of parents were fined over term-time holidays.
In his letter to councils on Wednesday, Huw Lewis said he was concerned some councils were advising "head teachers should not exercise their discretion and should instead refuse all requests for term-time absence as a matter of course", regardless of the circumstances.
"This is contrary to the regulations which allow a margin of discretion for the school in such matters so that each request can be considered fairly and on its merits," the minister wrote.
A BBC Wales Freedom of Information request in 2015 found wide variations in policy of imposing fines.
While Cardiff council issued 370 fixed penalty notices between January and May, 10 other councils did not issue any.
After receiving the petition in December, petitions committee chairman, William Powell AM, wrote to Mr Lewis saying some parents may have been dealt with unfairly and unlawfully.
He welcomed the minister's response, saying some councils had been "engaging in a cynical game of 'pass the parcel' on this issue".
"It is clear that the minister's intention, contrary to what applies in England, is for the discretion of individual head teachers to be respected," Mr Powell said.
"The Minister's response to the petitioners, in the light of compelling evidence received, is, in my view, a victory for common sense."
Craig Langman, chairman of campaign group Parents Want a Say, said it was a "terrific result" for parents in Wales.
"We hope this will encourage Westminster to reconsider its position on the policy in England," he added.

Summary: Campaigners who petitioned against parents being fined for taking term-time holidays are claiming a victory after it was agreed a blanket ban breached regulations.
###
Article: Blackpool, Bradford, Newcastle-Gateshead and Sheffield will vie to host the two-month exhibition in 2018.
A DCMS spokeswoman said the event, which will receive Â£20m in funding, would showcase the "creative, cultural and design sectors of the North".
The winning bid will be announced in the autumn.
Five further towns - Halifax, Harrogate, Scunthorpe, St. Helens and Whitehaven - submitted "strong" bids to the DCMS but were unsuccessful, the spokeswoman said.
She added that the department would work with those locations to "ensure as many people enjoy and benefit from the exhibition as possible".
The winning bidder will receive Â£5m from central government, with a further Â£15m being contributed to a legacy fund to attract further cultural investment in the North.
Digital and Culture Minister Matt Hancock said the event would be "a unique opportunity to celebrate the creativity of northern England" and that he was "thrilled" to have received "so many innovative bids".
"Whichever is successful, this exhibition will leave an important legacy to benefit the whole country," he added.
The Great Exhibition of the North board will now examine the shortlist before a final selection is made by ministers later in the year.
Follow us on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, on Instagram at bbcnewsents, or email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.

Summary: Four towns and cities have been named on the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) shortlist to host the Great Exhibition of the North.
###
Article: The First Day's Vase had been on loan to the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery for 35 years.
But it was withdrawn by its owner and sold at auction to an overseas buyer in 2016.
Stoke-on-Trent City Council and the Friends of the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery have now raised the purchase price to keep the vase in the city.
See more stories from across Stoke and Staffordshire here
The 10in high (25.4cm) vase has been saved after the National Heritage Memorial Fund stepped in with a grant of up to £267,500 to make up the shortfall in the fundraising campaign.
It came days before a deadline to raise the money was due to expire, the council said.
A temporary export bar was placed on it by the government in December, which was extended until 14 July.
Ian Lawley, chairman of the friends of the museum group, said: "This is great news, not just for Stoke-on-Trent but for the nation.
"The support of major funding bodies such as the National Heritage Memorial Fund has been crucial in meeting our target and reflects the historical importance of this iconic vase."
Money was also raised from donations from members of the public, as well as support from funding bodies including Art Fund.
Arrangements are now being made for the vase's return, the council said.
The vase was made by Josiah Wedgwood on the opening day of his factory at Etruria, Staffordshire, on 13 June 1769 and is one of only four that survive.
Two of the others are owned by the Victoria and Albert Museum while the third remains in the Wedgwood family, the council said.

Summary: A rare piece of Wedgwood pottery will return to Stoke-on-Trent after an appeal raised £482,500 to buy it.
###
Article: One of the largest optical observing systems ever conceived, the GMT will sit atop Cerro Las Campanas in Chile.
With its 24.5m-wide primary mirror system, astronomers should be able to see the first objects to emit light in the Universe, investigate dark energy and dark matter, and identify potentially habitable planets.
The GMT's international partners have all approved the $500m assembly phase.
Contracts against this money can now be awarded to suppliers.
The mountain ridge of Las Campanas itself, which is in the Atacama Desert, is ready to receive the observatory's components.
Two-and-a-half-thousand cubic metres of rock have been removed from its southern end to create a flat surface the size of four football fields. A road is in place to take all the elements to the summit when they become available.
Chief among these, of course, will be the seven 8.4m mirrors that comprise the GMT's primary reflecting surface.
Three are already at various stages of production (one is actually finished); the other four will begin their manufacture very soon.
"We expect in late 2021, possibly in early 2022, we will put three or four primary mirrors in the telescope, start doing some engineering, start doing some astronomy, and by that point we will have the largest (optical) telescope on the planet by a good margin," said GMT director, Pat McCarthy.
"We'll then slowly integrate the rest of the mirrors as they come along so that by 2024 or 2025, we should have all seven mirrors in the telescope," he told BBC News.
The GMT is one of three ground-based optical super-scopes planned for the next decade.
The other two are the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT), also in Chile, and the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), to be sited in Hawaii.
Construction of the latter has been in the news of late because of a dispute with Native Hawaiian activists, who say the installation on Mauna Kea volcano is a desecration of sacred land.
With primary diameters of 39m and 30m respectively, the E-ELT and the TMT will be bigger than the GMT...

Summary: Construction of the Giant Magellan Telescope has been given the go-ahead.
###
Article: Jon Platt was taken to court after refusing to pay a Â£120 fine for taking his daughter, aged six, to Florida.
He had argued the law only required children to attend school regularly.
The council said it wanted to know why the court decided there was no case to answer.
Mr Platt, a solicitor, took his daughter on holiday with the extended family, despite an absence request being rejected by the school.
At a magistrates' court earlier this month he successfully argued Section 444 of the Education Act required parents ensured their children attended school "regularly", and did not put restrictions on taking them on holidays in term time.
His daughter had a 93.8% attendance rate the previous academic year.
Isle of Wight Council said it has started the formal process of appeal to the High Court for clarification on a matter of law.
Council leader Jonathan Bacon said: "The recent media attention given to this case shows that there is interest, concern and, above all, uncertainty as to what constitutes 'regular attendance' for the purposes of the legislation in question.
"The Isle of Wight Council has received clear advice that the magistrates may have failed to interpret and apply the law correctly in making their decision.
"Where the law created by Parliament is uncertain, the appeal courts have the ability to lay down a binding ruling as to the correct interpretation of the law."

Summary:


Voting has begun in local elections across Merseyside.

Article: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said it wanted to raise awareness among people who may get a drone as a gift.
Research carried out by the CAA suggests about 39% of owners know about the safe-flying regulations.
The update comes after four near-misses between between drones and civil aircraft were reported in October.
"Drones are an incredible, inspiring technology but it's vital that people are using them safely," said Andrew Sage from air traffic control body NATS in a statement.
"With the number of reported drone incidents on the rise, it's important that people understand their legal obligations and fly safe," he said.
The revised code turns the five main safety tips into a mnemonic, spelling drone, to make it easier to remember.
The CAA has also updated it dronesafe website which collects information about how to operate the unmanned craft safely.
The CAA and NATS are also working with online and high street retailers to ensure that customers are told about their responsibilities when they buy a drone.
CAA research suggests that only 36% of drone buyers get guidance about safe flying at the point of sale.
The UK Airprox Board reported four separate near-miss incidents in October involving drones. One took place near Liverpool Airport and the other three happened on consecutive days at Heathrow.
The Airprox board said 56 near-miss incidents had been recorded so far in 2016 compared to 29 in 2015.
Some European bodies are pushing for drone makers to include "geo-fencing" systems that automatically stop the craft being flown into danger areas such as airfields.

Summary: The UK's drone code has been revised and updated to help pilots of the unmanned craft ensure they fly the gadgets safely.
###
Article: The train drivers' union Aslef said its 24-hour action would start at 21:30 BST on Wednesday.
London Underground (LU) had offered four unions a deal aimed at improving work-life balance.
BBC London correspondent Karl Mercer said all four unions had rejected the offer as talks continued.
The Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union has also rejected the deal while Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) is yet to make official its response to the offer.
Unite previously said its action "would go ahead". Talks are being held at conciliatory service Acas.
LU said the new offer included an extra £200 per night Tube shift for drivers and a £500 bonus for station staff by next February as well as a further guarantees for a 32-hour, four-day week.
After a short transition period while the service is introduced, drivers will have the choice whether to work nights, said LU, and everyone will be entitled to two days off in seven.
But Aslef said LU should postpone the planned launch of the all-night Tube on 12 September so further negotiations could be held.
It said the new deal was "completely inflexible", leaving it with "no other choice" than to walk out.
Finn Brennan from the union said the main concern was the "complete lack of firm commitments on work life balance for train drivers" and the number of weekend rest days they would get.
The RMT said it had also rejected the "re-packaged" offer, saying its reps were "furious" when they examined details of the proposed deal.
It said: "They are a re-hash of previous plans and would continue along the course of smashing up long-standing agreements and destroying work-life balance."
LU's managing director Nick Brown said he was "hugely disappointed" the unions had rejected the "very fair" offer for "pretty thin" reasons, but that LU remained open to further talks.
Transport for London (TfL) has warned that Tube services will stop running at 18:30 BST on Wednesday, with services "exceptionally busy" from 16:30 BST.
There will be no Tube services all day on...

Summary: A 24-hour Tube strike is set to go ahead in a row over pay and conditions for the new night Tube service for London, a union has said.
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Article: The Care Quality Commission said East Midlands Ambulance Service's emergency and urgent care services were no longer rated as inadequate for safety.
But it confirmed continuing problems with response times and incident investigation.
Overall, the trust continues to be rated as requires improvement.
East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS), which serves about 4.8 million people across six counties, has faced financial problems and had some of the worst response times in England.
After an inspection in November 2015, the trust was served with a warning notice to ensure there were enough staff and vehicles available.
The new report notes some issues had been addressed.
CQC's Chief Inspector of Hospitals, Professor Sir Mike Richards, said:  "Our inspectors found significant improvements had been made, and there were a number of areas of outstanding practice, but we still had some concerns.
"Staff were caring, professional, compassionate and patient-focussed in challenging circumstances.
"However, we were concerned that response times for some identified calls fell short of the national target, which meant patients were not receiving care as quickly as they should."
Areas of outstanding work included a "highly effective" recruitment campaign.
Richard Henderson, chief executive of EMAS, said: "Last year we had 20,000 occasions where it took us over one hour to hand patients over to hospitals.
"Clearly, that has a massive impact on the time it takes to get to patients, but by addressing that and wider system challenges we can clearly improve further."
The service, which covers Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire and Rutland, has about 2,700 members of staff and receives approximately 2,000 calls a day.

Summary: A troubled ambulance trust has seen some "significant" improvements but still faces challenges, a new report has found.
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Article: A survey by the Tree Register of the British Isles (TROBI) has shown the Plas Tan y Bwlch centre in Maentwrog, Gwynedd, is home to four UK champions.
Among the biggest is a Japanese red cedar that stands at 37.5m (123ft).
The gardens are also home to nine Welsh champions, plus a further 16 Gwynedd champion trees.
Dr. Owen Johnson, who conducted the survey, said: "The woods at Plas Tan y Bwlch probably have the best series of Japanese cedars of any estate in Britain."
"There is also an attractive range of trees in the main garden, including a Davidia (dove tree) unsurpassed from its crown-size and beauty."
The Victorian-Gothic mansion Plas Tan y Bwlch is located within the Snowdonia National Park.
The immediate gardens around the mansion, which cover 13 acres (5.2 hectares), were laid out between 1879 and 1912.
Head of Business at Plas, Andrew Oughton, said: "We have long been aware of the magnificence of the trees at Plas, but had no idea so many of them were the biggest of their kind."
The garden's other champion trees include a 24m (79ft) golden-leaved Lawson cypress, a sawara cypress at 23m (76ft), and an 8m (26ft) variegated holly tree.

Summary: Some of Britain's biggest trees are growing in Snowdonia, according to the national park.
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Article: It has been estimated there are 1,114 individuals, down from about 1,285 when the last national count was done six years ago.
RSPB Scotland and Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) said capercaillies were among Scotland's most endangered birds.
Strathspey holds about 83% of the remaining population.
The large grouse are also found in mature pine woodlands in the Cairngorms, Perthshire and Aberdeenshire.
The Cairngorms is a stronghold and numbers have been rising there, but numbers nationally have continued on what has been a long-term fluctuation between 2,000 and 1,000 birds.
Habitat loss and birds dying after flying into tree fences around forestry plantations have been blamed for the fall in numbers.
RSPB Scotland and SNH said conservation projects had prevented the species from becoming extinct in Scotland.
There is also growing evidence that human disturbance can be an issue as it causes capercaillie to avoid using large areas of otherwise suitable woodland - limiting the potential for population recovery.
Nick Wilkinson, conservation scientist for RSPB Scotland, said: "The considerable conservation effort that has been directed at capercaillie for over two decades now has helped to prevent further population decline, and indeed has made a second extinction of this species from Scotland less likely.
"The country's capercaillie population has fluctuated between 1,000 and 2,000 birds since the first national survey in the 1990s, but it's now very much at the low end of this scale.
"Capercaillie are restricted to only a few areas of the country and most are found in Strathspey, which highlights the importance of innovative conservation work in this area, in partnership with others, for their population to recover."
Sue Haysom, policy and advice officer with Scottish Natural Heritage, said: "Vital conservation work such as establishing rich feeding areas for adults and chicks, promoting woodland creation in the right locations to increase habitat, and carrying out targeted predator control around breeding sites...

Summary: Scotland's capercaillie population continues to decline, according to the results of the latest national survey of the large birds.
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Article: Polling stations opened their doors at 07:00 BST and will close at 22:00.
Votes are being cast in council elections in Knowsley, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral. In Liverpool, voters will also elect a city mayor.
Voters across Merseyside will also be asked to choose a police and crime commissioner. In England, elections are taking place for more than 120 councils and the London Assembly.

Summary:


A man has been jailed for life for the "motiveless and brutal" murder of a Brighton man in his city centre flat.

Article: Anne McTaggart's Organ Donation (Scotland) Bill has secured cross-party support, and is backed by 22 Labour MSPs, four SNP, two Lib Dems and one each from the Conservatives and Greens.
The Bill proposes to change the current "opt-in" system of organ donation.
It would mean people would have to opt out or their name would be added to the NHS Organ Donation Register.
Ms McTaggart said: "I would encourage those MSPs who have previously indicated that they support a change - including Nicola Sturgeon - to back us and change the lives of those people on organ waiting lists.
"With three people dying every day across the UK, we simply cannot afford to wait any longer on this issue."
She added: "Promoting organ donation is vital but on its own it will not deliver the much-needed increase in organs that we need just now and that's why my Bill is essential.
"It represents a shift to a more positive, proactive approach which will save people's lives."
A Scottish government spokesman said: "This government is committed to continuing to increase donation and transplantation rates in Scotland and continue the success that the Donation and Transplantation Plan for Scotland 2013-2020 is already delivering.
"Thanks to these efforts, the numbers of donors in Scotland have increased significantly and the number of people waiting for a transplant has fallen by 25% in the last seven years.
"Whilst we welcome any debate in relation to the important issues of organ donation and transplant, we do need to examine the evaluation of the impact of opt-out on organ donation on Wales before making a decision on any changes within Scotland.
"This is because there is not, as yet, a consensus amongst experts as to whether opt-out will make a significant difference, and the international evidence is not clear."

Summary: A Labour MSP has called on the first minister to support the introduction of her organ donation bill later.
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Article: Dubbed the "Panini Cheapskates", Alex and Sian Pratchett, from Oxford, created all 639 stickers of the World Cup Panini album in 2014.
Last year, the duo then turned their hands to politics, sketching party leaders ahead of May's election.
They now hope to create 800 stickers for the Euro 2016 album, for charity.
They plan to start their latest challenge on 10 June - the day the tournament starts - and finish when it ends on 10 July.
Raising cash for Cancer Research UK and Macintyre Charities would give the pair "the motivation to keep churning out our dishevelled little men even when our brains and bodies are telling us to stop", Mr Pratchett said.
He admitted the couple, who "have actual jobs and, in many ways, actual lives" had not got any better at drawing since 2014, describing their attempts as "uniformly awful".
As well as creating all 800 players, Mr and Mrs Pratchett have also pledged to sketch personalised pictures of the top 100 donors.

Summary: A couple who completed a World Cup sticker album with their own drawings of players have picked up their pens again to sketch for charity.
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Article: About 150 Communities First projects are being reduced to 50 "cluster" areas while a dozen partnerships will cease.
The action is being taken after reports criticised the effectiveness of the project's spending.
The Welsh government said the changes followed a consultation and community involvement would remain central to it.
Some people are concerned the changes will impact on those it is meant to help most.
The Communities First programme was set up in 2001 to help people living in some of the most deprived areas of Wales.
Over the past 10 years more than £300m has been spent by the partnerships trying to improve the health, education and quality of life of people in concentrated areas such as community wards and housing estates.
Around 20% of the Welsh population are said to live in Communities First areas, but it varies greatly with 24 partnerships in Rhondda Cynon Taf and one each in Monmouthshire and Denbighshire.
Now, the programme is undergoing a major shake-up between October and January following a series of critical reports in 2010 and 2011 which will cut the annual spending by £5m to £40m.
But there are concerns the changes will mean the partnerships will not be able to connect with local communities in the same way if they are based elsewhere and cover a wider area.
"Some of the communities we met were extremely concerned that they wouldn't have a resident worker with them and they felt they would be lucky to get one for one day a week," said Shan Aston.
She is director of a community development programme at Bangor University and has been studying Communities First areas as part of her work.
A total of 13 partnerships will cease as part of the overhaul because they are no longer regarded to be among the most deprived areas. They are:
"In the restructuring process, I think the danger is that they will have lost what is best about Communities First - that element of working from the bottom up and people becoming empowered to make a change in their own lives," she said.
The Welsh government...

Summary: Concerns have been raised about the impact of changes to the Welsh government's flagship anti-poverty scheme.
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Article: HMRC is examining 100 figures who were paid via personal service companies.
A tribunal ruling in a case involving BBC News presenters Tim Willcox and Joanna Gosling revealed HMRC has opened enquiries into 100 other on-air stars.
The BBC said the tribunal related to between 2006 and early 2013, when it adopted a new employment status test.
The case relates to whether Willcox and Gosling were eligible to pay tax as freelancers through their own personal services companies or should have applied legislation known as IR35, as employees.
The pair have appealed against the extra tax and National Insurance contributions which HMRC decided were due. According to the ruling, both became staff in 2014. The pair are not commenting.
The HMRC has examined a list of 469 current or former presenters who have peen paid via personal service companies and put around 100 cases "under consideration", according to a BBC application to the First-Tier Tribunal.
The BBC's application, which was quoted in the judgement, continued: "The BBC also understands that HMRC has initiated or indicated their intention to initiate IR35 proceedings in relation to presenters who are engaged by other broadcasting organisations...
"The appeals are therefore extremely important not only to the individuals in question but also to the BBC and to the broadcasting industry as a whole.
"The appeals are likely to be the first cases to test the freelance model in the broadcasting industry against the IR35 legislation."
An HMRC spokesperson said employment status is "never a matter of personal choice and is always dictated by the specific facts".
The spokesperson continued: "When the employment relationship does not accurately reflect the underlying reality of the relationship, the wrong tax is paid then we intervene to ensure the rules apply as parliament intended.
"While there can be many legitimate business reasons for workers being employed through their own companies, there are rules in place enabling HMRC to make sure people who provide their services...

Summary: About 100 BBC presenters are being investigated over whether they paid too little tax by working as freelancers, not staff, legal documents have shown.
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Article: The rise of smartphones, then tablets and Google's Chromebooks and now the first wearable tech, have threatened to send shipments of Windows laptops and desktops adrift.
PC shipments slumped by about 10% between 2012 and 2013, according to research firm Gartner.
But recent data from the firm suggests the beginnings of a turnaround with many of the major manufacturers reporting rising demand for their Windows PCs, even if sales remain substantially below where they were two years ago.
Microsoft's phasing out of Windows XP has helped, but innovations including detachable keyboards, longer battery life and touchscreens have also played a role.
Taiwan's Computex - which has just got under way - has long been a good place to get a first peek at PC-makers' latest hardware.
The tech trade show - Asia's biggest - provides an opportunity for manufacturers to gauge reactions to what are sometimes "out there" designs before deciding which devices to throw production and marketing budgets behind.
Perhaps the oddest machine at this year's show is one by Asus.
The Transformer Book V laptop-tablet hybrid features a dock on the back of its screen into which a smartphone can be plugged.
The design allows the device to either run off its own processor or the handset's chip, in a bid to give its owner the best of every possible world.
"The tablet can be used independently and when combined with a keyboard dock turns into an Android laptop, and with the switch of a key will turn into a powerful Windows laptop for ultimate productivity," explains Jonney Shih, chief executive and president at Asus.
Not everyone is convinced it's ready to go mass market.
"It's very much a niche product," says Chris Green, a tech analyst at the Davies Murphy Group consultancy.
"It's not entirely clear what gap Asus is trying to fill, but if the firm is not looking for it to sell in high volumes, then it may well work in a limited space."
Acer's Aspire Switch 10 - which is also on show - might not be quite as radical a design but its introduction of...

Summary: The problem with being in the tech business is that it's easy to get left behind.
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Article: David Sole, 33, of no fixed address, had denied murdering Jonathan Ellison but was found guilty at Lewes Crown Court of beating him to death.
Denise Antonia, 33, of Appledore Road, Brighton, was cleared of murder but found guilty of assisting an offender. She was jailed for five years.
Mr Ellison was found dead in his flat in Gloucester Street on 8 April 2011.
Sole and Antonia were arrested in Winchester, Hampshire, on 16 April following an investigation by Sussex Police's major crime branch.
Following the two-week trial, Sole was told he would serve a minimum term of 18 years.
Det Ch Insp Trevor Bowles said: "Jon Ellison was killed by a man who had befriended him and who he trusted.
"His trust led to his death, as the result of a motiveless but brutal drug and drink-fuelled assault, which caused some of the worst injuries any of us have ever seen."
Mr Bowles said Mr Ellison was a "vulnerable man with many health and personal problems" but he was regarded as "a kind and trusted person".
In a statement issued through Sussex Police, Mr Ellison's brothers said: "He did not deserve to be taken in such a brutal way.
"It was completely at odds with his kind and gentle spirit."

Summary:


search was called off after the kayaker was found safe.
The search was called off after the kay

The coastguard has called off a search for a kayaker after it declared the alarm an "elaborate hoax".

Article: The claim: Rail fares have increased at double the rate of wages since 2010.
Reality Check verdict: Rail fares have risen by double the rate of wages since 2010, but the rate of growth has slowed considerably in the second half of that period.
As a result, we know that fares have risen by about 24% since January 2010.
We also know from the ONS that average weekly wages have risen by about 12% over the same period.
So the TUC is correct when it says that average train fares have risen by double the rate of wages since 2010.
But, there has been a change in government policy since 2010, which means that looking at the average since then does not give a fair picture.
After widespread criticism of rising fares, the coalition government, which took office in 2010, decided to act.
In 2013 it cut the cap on regulated fares from RPI inflation plus one percentage point, to July's RPI inflation rate. A year later it further tightened the rules, removing train companies' ability to increase certain fares within the cap.
The new rules meant regulated train fares - which cover about half of all tickets - could rise no faster than RPI inflation in July of the previous year until the end of the Parliament in 2015. That policy looks set to continue until 2020.
It means that the rise in rail fares has slowed considerably.
In fact, since January 2013, wages have risen by 5.7% while train fares have risen by 5.6%.
In 2015, the low rate of inflation meant that fares rose by less than wages.

Summary: Average rail fares are one of the items in the basket of goods that the Office for National Statistics (ONS) uses to measure inflation.
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Article: Film critic Mark Adams will replace Chris Fujiwara, who stepped down from the role this year.
Mr Adams, who writes reviews for the Sunday Mirror and trade magazine Screen International, said he would help the annual festival "develop and grow".
He was head of programming at the National Film Theatre in London and at the Institute of Contemporary Arts.
Next year marks the 69th Edinburgh Film Festival. The celebration of UK and world cinema has seen admissions increase by about a third in recent years.
Mr Adams, who will take up the role in March, said: "I'm thrilled to be helping the Edinburgh International Film Festival develop and grow, and am looking forward to bringing new, challenging, entertaining and exciting cinema to the city.
"This is a great festival that deserves its recognition and can only get better and better."
Ken Hay, EIFF chief executive, said: "We are delighted to have Mark joining the team.
"His passion for film, his fantastic experience as a programmer, journalist and critic, along with his reputation in the UK and internationally, make him the ideal choice to drive the future success of the festival."

Summary: The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) has appointed a new artistic director.
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Article: The New Economics Foundation think tank said the number of people employed in this sector had risen from about 38,000 in 2010 to about 65,300 in 2016.
App technology and new business models have led to a rise in "gig" workers undertaking short-term, casual work, spawning firms like Uber and Deliveroo.
The government is currently reviewing what this means for workers' rights.
72%
growth from 2010 and 2016
37,965 people registered in the 'gig' economy in 2010
65,315 people registered in the 'gig' economy in 2016
Typically workers in the "gig" economy use mobile phone apps to identify customers requiring delivery services or small practical jobs.
Stephen Devlin, senior economist from the New Economics Foundation think tank, said the next big growth area in the "gig" economy was expected to be in the cleaning and DIY trades.
The Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy said it believed some five million people were working in the gig economy in the UK.
The Office for Budget Responsibility estimates the government may lose up to Â£3.5bn in tax revenues by 2020-21 as a result of the rise in self-employed "gig" workers.
However this could change depending on the outcome of pending court cases.
An employment tribunal in London ruled in October that Uber drivers should be classed as workers and were not self-employed.
Uber is appealing against the decision and there are further test cases pending, including one for CitySprint delivery firm.
Mr Devlin said the re-classification of workers in the "gig" economy as a result of legal cases, could herald the collapse of the "gig" economy in the UK.

Summary: London's "gig" economy has grown by 72% in the transport and storage sector since 2010, research suggests.
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Article: Prosecutors are considering the claims linked to Fort Augustus Abbey.
The Crown Office said the reports were submitted to the fiscal in Inverness.
A spokesperson said: "The procurator fiscal has received reports concerning nine men in relation to incidents alleged to have occurred between September 1967 and December 1992."
The statement added: "The reports remain under consideration."
The former school was run by Benedictine monks but closed down in the 1990s.

Summary: Nine men have been reported to the procurator fiscal in connection with alleged abuse at a former Catholic boarding school in the Highlands.
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Article: The claim: The cost of Hinkley Point C to bill payers has risen from £6bn to about £30bn.
Reality Check verdict: The projected additional cost of guaranteeing the amount paid for electricity from Hinkley C has risen considerably because the government forecast for the wholesale price of electricity has fallen.
The Chinese government will pay about a third with EDF paying the rest.
In return, the UK government has guaranteed EDF a fixed price for the electricity it produces for 35 years.
That fixed price, or strike price, is £92.50 per megawatt hour. One megawatt hour is enough electricity to run about 18,000 40in televisions for an hour.
In the UK, electricity is generated then sold to suppliers at a wholesale price. That electricity is then supplied to UK households and they pay for it through their electricity bills.
Energy companies charge us more than the wholesale price to cover their costs, various government charges, and make a profit.
The wholesale price moves up and down but the government has promised EDF it will get paid £92.50 per megawatt hour of electricity from Hinkley Point no matter what the wholesale price is. It will be £89.50 if another planned station, Sizewell C, comes online.
If the agreed strike price is above the wholesale price then consumers will have to pay higher bills to fund it.
The estimated extra amount they will pay has risen for one simple reason - the government's forecast for the wholesale energy price in the future has fallen. The lower the wholesale price, the bigger the chunk UK households have to pay to make sure EDF gets paid £92.50 per megawatt hour.
Oil and gas prices have fallen sharply since 2014 and the government has cut its wholesale price estimates as a result. Between 2012, when the strike price was agreed with EDF, and last year, wholesale price forecasts have been cut by more than a fifth.
The National Audit Office (NAO) said: "We estimate that the value of future top-up payments under the proposed HPC CfD have increased from £6.1bn in October 2013, when...

Summary: The French state-owned power company EDF has agreed to shoulder the estimated £18bn cost of building Hinkley Point C, the first new nuclear power station in the UK for a generation.
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Article: The search was launched after the coastguard received reports from an individual claiming to be in difficulty off the coast of County Down.
Two RNLI boats and a coastguard helicopter from Scotland were launched to assist in the search.
The kayaker was reported to be near Mew Island, one of the Copeland Islands near Donaghadee.
A coastguard spokesman said it received several calls from a person claiming to be in difficulty.
However, the alarm was declared to be a hoax following a thorough search.

Summary: